MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- Barry University men's basketball team overcame an uphill battle in a second-half comeback bid only to fall short, 61-57, to Nova Southeastern Saturday in the final regular season game.
The Buccaneers (13-13, 6-10 Sunshine State Conference) will play Florida Southern (21-5, 12-4) at 5 p.m. Friday in the league tournament quarterfinals at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.
After Vladimir Raymonvil's three 32 seconds into the game gave the Buccaneers their only lead, Barry trailed the rest of the way until Chad Renfro sank two free throws with 2:38 remaining to tie it at 57-57. But the Bucs missed two field goals before the Sharks picked up a couple points from the free throw line. The Buccaneers missed another two field goals, and the Sharks scored on a layup with 11 seconds left to seal it.
It was another classic Nova-Barry finish that stung this time for a hot Buccaneer team. Barry, which wasn't at its best on a night where tournament seeding was at stake, shot 36.7 percent from the field. Conversely, NSU hit 43.8 percent of its shots.
One-year senior Filip Toric had 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and a steal in his final game at Health & Sports Center. Second-year senior guard Justin McCoy scored 12 points, grabbed seven boards and had two steals. Both Toric and McCoy were 4 of 9 from the floor. Toric hit three of six triples.
Magne Fivelstad scored 10 points, had seven rebounds and three steals, while shooting 4 of 8.
But the Bucs were 7 of 22 from three-point range, and were outrebounded, 37-29. They outscored the Sharks, 10-2 in fastbreak points.
Nova's Lukas Roesch had 17 points, and Justin Jeangerard had 13 points and seven boards.
2013 SSC Men's Basketball Championship Schedule
Opening Round - Wednesday, March 6
Game 2 - 7:30 p.m. - No. 8 Lynn vs. No. 9 Tampa
Men's Quarterfinals - Friday, March 8
Game 7 - 12:00 p.m. - No. 4 Florida Tech vs. No. 5 Rollins
Game 8 - 2:30 p.m. - Game 1 Winner vs. No. 1 Saint Leo
Game 9 - 5:00 p.m. - No. 2 Florida Southern vs. No. 7 Barry
Game 10 - 7:30 p.m. - No. 3 Eckerd vs. No. 6 Nova Southeastern
Men's Semifinals - Saturday, March 9
Game 13 - 5:00 p.m. - Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner
Game 14 - 7:30 p.m. - Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner
Men's Final - Sunday, March 10
Men's Championship - 3:30 p.m. - Game 13 Winner vs. Game 14 Winner